Deus ex Machina
by Live Wire
Summary: What if Daemon had fulfilled her function?


Author's Notes: This is a "what if" story so I'm playing around with the timing of some critical events in the episode "Sacrifice". Let's just assume that Daemon began her countdown a little sooner and that Enzo's game lasted a little longer. Since this is my first Reboot fanfic, any feedback is appreciated. 

**Deus ex Machina** __

... 

oh oh oh one oh one 

... 

oh oh oh one oh oh 

... 

oh oh oh oh one one 

... 

oh oh oh oh one oh 

... 

oh oh oh oh oh one 

... 

...oh... 

~*~ 

**"GAME OVER"**

The female voice was cold and dispassionate. Had anyone been present, they would have tensed in dreadful anticipation wondering what was to follow. 

But there was no one and nothing followed. 

Instead the voice remained silent and the game cube lifted, leaving the city sector undamaged. The User hadn't won. 

Left behind on the ground a young sprite, his dog and two robots watched in dull fascination as the game disappeared through a hole in the sky. 

"Matrix!" the red robot, Hack, addressed the boy. "You won the game!" 

"I know!" the discouraged young sprite sighed and studied his feet. 

"But weren't we supposed to stay in the game?" the blue robot Slash asked nervously, twiddling his fingers and giving the impression he had been caught doing something he shouldn't. 

"I-I know..." Enzo Matrix stuttered but then his voice grew stronger. "But I couldn't do it! I couldn't leave my family." 

A moment of tense silence greeted this statement but at last Hack interrupted. 

"Hey!" the 'bot's nervousness turned to fear. "What's all this green stuff everywhere?" 

The others looked around noting the veiny green patches of infection that appeared on the ground and the sides of nearby buildings. 

"Daemon must be here!" Enzo realized and then took off running towards the Principle Office leaving the others to follow or not as they chose. 

As Enzo ran all he could hear was the patter of Frisket's paws and the robotic creaking that let him know that Hack and Slash weren't far behind. That was all. Not even the slither of a null interrupted the all-consuming silence, and the only sight that met his eyes was the eerie glowing infected patches. Patches that, once he slowed down for a better look, appeared more and more like shadows. Shadows of people, mostly binomes, frozen in the midst of disturbingly routine activities. Here was a boy on a zipboard. There a girl held her father's hand... A man and woman stood talking... A mother cradled her baby... 

But they were gone. 

Without citizens working to divert core energy into vital systems, the city building themselves began to flicker and fade the same way dataforms do moments before they delete. 

Fearful of the sight, Enzo picked up the pace but his fear gave way to panic and he approached the Principle Office. Already he could see a number of sprite-like shadows clustered around the base of the Gateway platform. 

"Dot? Bob?" Enzo cried out in despair, hoping that he was wrong, hoping that the sister and friend who had been more like parents to him would come back. But they didn't. The only thing that returned was the empty echo of his words. 

"Someone?!" Where was Phong? AndrAIa? Mouse? At this point Enzo would have even settled to see Matrix. Matrix who hated and resented him, who had absolutely no patience for him, who in many ways was exactly like him -- a lost child. 

"Anyone?!" The only one to answer these desperate pleas was Frisket who licked the boy's face as tears began to trickle down his cheeks. 

"I'm sorry!" Enzo sobbed as he buried his face in the dog's neck. He was too late. He couldn't help the others. He couldn't even help himself. Dimly Enzo noted that Hack and Slash had caught up with him and, huddling together pathetically, the four watched as Mainframe's sky began to darken in the final Shutdown. 

"I'm so sorry..." 

~*~

Mainframe was not alone. All across the Net system were blown away like candle flames. The last to fall was the once great Super Computer. Here and there a lone survivor, overlooked in the infection, felt their own hope turn to despair as the energy bridges that held the city together winked out of existence and the disks that held aloft the broken spires shuddered and collapsed into the energy sea. 

Even the Web was not spared. The chaos usually present in its vast uncharted reaches was now muted and subdued. Where there once was life there was now only green dust floating in the eddies of the data currents. 

Net-wide Infection 

Net-wide Destruction 

A goal long sought by many viruses. 

A goal that had long been thwarted -- until now. 

Had Daemon been present she would have smiled to see all dataforms brought together at last in peace and perfect unity. But Daemon was gone--her function was fulfilled but only after infecting and perverting the formats of countless others. In the eerie silence that echoed across the ruined planes of cyberspace, it would seem her accomplishment would go largely unnoticed. 

But it didn't. 

In a world outside the network - a world only hypothesized by the great thinkers of the Super Computer - in this world, far beyond and yet strangely connected, the stillness was felt. 

And as their electronic civilization crumbled to dust overnight, many Users cursed and mourned the ghosts of the machine. 

~*~ 

End Prog 


End file.
